


Kindred spirits

by numbika



Category: Discworld - Terry Pratchett, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Fluff and Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Kinda, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:20:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28171563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/numbika/pseuds/numbika
Summary: Two similar souls meet across dimensions in a shady pub.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15





	Kindred spirits

**Author's Note:**

> My partner's fic , we'll hope yall gonna enjoy it.

There are countless interdimensional service and food establishments across the multiverse. In some cases, the building or the interior itself is travelling from world to world, sometimes buying items in one dimension and selling them in the next one. In other cases, only the opening door appears in different or even multiple worlds, and the interior is situated in some kind of pocket space. Probably because the rent is cheaper that way.

One of these latter places was the "Beasts Den", a small smoky pub which served as a refuge for everyone who was obsessed with exotic or magical animals. It was a strange niche for an establishment but considering the vastness of the universe, it would have been stranger for it not to exist. As it is all people in the multiverse who had that strange gentle insanity which led to someone naming a twenty-meter-long scaled beast with claws longer than kitchen knife and multiple tentacles "Fluffy", had the potential to find this place.

It appeared as an old wooden door scratched and burned multiple times with the letters "Beasts Dean, Animals welcome" hammered into it in metal letters. It was usually found when those aforementioned people were at a low point in their life, and they needed some company aside, or with their little house pets.

And if someone, Rubeus Hagrid was in need of something to get the weight off his mind, and some stiff drinks would have been a great start. Honestly, he would have considered it a great continuation, and probably finish as well, but it didn’t turn out well the last time. He was heading towards the Hog's Head but turned down between two houses when he noticed something unusual. He knew Hogsmead like the back of his hand but he never saw that battered door before. And now he was in front of it in a back alleyway.

He knew he shouldn’t.

Unknown new doors appearing in a wizard village were usually the result of some prankster, or something even more sinister, but Hagrid didn’t care anymore. It looked like an inn, seemed welcoming, and he really, really needed something to drink. He pushed down the door handle, and to his surprise, there was no shower of confetti or fart noise, but it opened into an actual pub.

The room was filled with the smell of something acrid, smoke, alcohol, and thousand more, not many of them pleasant. There were perches, boxes, and cages everywhere, hiding serpentine or furry shapes which watched the patrons with suspicious eyes. On the perches sat a variety of critters from birds seemingly made out of pure crystal to a lemur kind of primate which had membranes under its arms. To Hagrid's surprise the patrons were just as varied as the animals.

There was a person wearing a trench coat and a matching hat, feeding chicken nuggets to something similar to a small demonic dog. There was also a young man around his twenties with a red and white patterned baseball cap playing with a couple of similarly designed small balls and drinking a half-emptied mug of beer.

On the other side of the pub a muscular woman wearing animal pelts was letting her bear drink from her wine glass as she gently petted the animal's head. Hagrid didn’t even get the usual stares regarding his height and stature as he lumbered in. He walked to the counter and took a seat beside a solemn looking brown-haired woman who wore slightly singed thick letter clothing.

The barstool barely creaked under him when he sat down and as he moved around it adjusted to his size. He leaned against the counter and let his earlier melancholy flow back into him. It was a wonderous place, but right now it just reminded him of what he had to give up. He sighed as he raised his hand.

A big man, almost his size stepped up to him on the other side of the counter He had a mass of scars for a face, and an eyepatch, but despite this he wore a surprisingly gentle smile on his face.

"Good evening. What can I get for you?"

"Evening. A pint of beer, and after that keep it coming, please. I had a rough day. "

The barkeep nodded with an all-knowing smile. During his long time as the barkeep in the "Beasts Den" he seen this countless times. In his opinion a good barkeep didn’t asked if the patron didn’t want to speak, and more importantly never judged. He just provided a port in the storm.

"Aren't we all. " Huffed the woman right next to Hagrid. She was drinking sherry from a wine glass and wore an expression just as downcast as his own.

"Mhmm." Answered Hagrid as he got his mug of beer. He contemplated to say something or not, but after a bit of deliberation he decided that he needed it off his chest, and besides if someone, the strange people in this pub would understand it.

"I had to give up my pet. He grew up to be too big, and the principal said I couldn’t keep it around the school where I work as a groundskeeper." The half giant sighed and emptied his glass in a couple of big gulps. "I loved that little rascal. "

"I am really sorry." Said the woman with a gentle expression and patted the man's shoulder. "I know how hard is can be to lose a pet. Sybil Ramkin by the way."

She extended her hand the groundskeeper of Hogwarts took it into his shovel sized ones and shook it.

"Rubeus Hagrid. And yes, its, really hard." Hagrid could feel tears welling up in his eyes. He reached into his pocket and started dabbing them away with his half-charred handkerchief." He…he was feisty, but I know its jut because that’s how he showed his love. I-I will always miss him. I remember when he was little, he always tried to bite off my fingers." Sobbed Hagrid slowly and heaved a mighty sigh.

"It's all right, just let it all out," smiled gently Sybil and petted the man's giant hand.

"My poor Norbert is now away somewhere in Romania in a sanctuary. I don’t even know if he will like it there. Anyway…" Hagrid shook his head and wiped away his tears as he got another pint of beer from the barkeep. "…I don’t just want to vent on you. Why are you here? You said you had a bad day too?"

"Oh yes, I have some problem with poor Thaddeus here." She leaned to her left and patted a big carrier box beside her chair. Something hissed at her as an answer. "He is a rescue, but he is bit cranky, have a dull color and already an adult, so I'm afraid no-one will want to adopt him. I can't keep him with the others because he is really territorial with them. I am afraid I will have to put him down." Sybil sighed and it was her turn to take out a handkerchief and use it to wipe away a couple of big tears from her face.

Hagrid nodded solemnly as he looked at the box, when a sudden wild idea appeared in his head.

"I could take him." He said before his head managed to consider any consequences.

"Don’t say things like that." Waved the woman as she got hold of her emotions. "You don’t even know what he is."

Hagrid deflated a little bit and nodded. It was true, and, he had a habit of picking up all sort of critters without first learning how to properly take care of them. He emptied his mug of beer again before starting to speak again.

"Sorry, I just feel empty after losing my dragon, and…" Sybil choked a bit on her own drink and placed it down between a couple of big coffs.

"Dragon…Your Norbert was a dragon?" She coughed as Hagrid nodded again wondering what became of her.

"Yeah, a Norwegian Ridgeback. He became too big, and I had to give him away to a Dragon Sanctuary. What?" Asked Hagrid because the women were looking at him as intently as if she was trying to stare holes into him.

"How big is too big?" She asked suddenly.

"I…what?" Asked Hagrid completely baffled.

"How about, two feet maybe? No bigger?" Asked again Sybil hurriedly and leaned closer with a very determined expression.

"Uh…If Norbert would have been just two feet long there would have been no problem keeping him, yes. But he wasn’t, and…"

Sybil reached down and raised the small box from beside him, eliciting a disapproving gurgling noise from its resident. Through the holes on its side one could see a serpentine body, little stubby legs, a dull green color, and two suspicious little eyes.

"Have you ever had a Narrowe-Eared Smut?" Asked Sybil as she deposited the box in the lap of his drinking buddy.

Hagrid blinked a couple of times and gently wiggled a finger near one of the holes. The answer was a small but spirited gust of flame.

"Not yet." Answered the half giant with a warm tone in his voice. "But I would like to try."

"Well, I have a small booklet with me." Smiled Sybil gently. "Someone who loves dragons can't be a bad person, and at this point I would do anything to spare poor Thaddeus from the chopping block. " The woman's hand disappeared inside her pockets and she deposited a couple of items into the counter beside her sherry glass.

A golden pocket watch, a couple coal tablets, a small metal spoon, a notebook and a couple chewed up pencils. Finally, from the bottom of the pocket appeared a small booklet titled.

"Swamp Dragons and you: The Narrowe-Eared Smut and its care." She slid the paper towards Hagrid and smiled.

"There, everything is there that you need to know about the breed. "

Hagrid, still a bit shell shocked nodded, and slid the booklet inside his own, just as cluttered pocket. As Sybil slowly put everything back into her pocket, she glanced at the pocket watch she took out the first time, then flushed.

"By the gods, it's this late already? I have to be at the palace in half an hour and I need to change before that. Sorry Hagrid but I really have to go. Hello, dearie." She patted the box gently as she stood up and placed a handful of coins on the counter. "If you have any question find me at the Ramkin residence, you two have a dragon of a time together. " Chuckled Sybill before storming out the door.

Hagrid only caught a glimpse from view outside, but the graffitied alleyway seemed much different from the one which he stepped in from.

"Wai-" The half giant tried to say something, but his talking partner was already out of the door. "Palace? Ramkin residence?" He muttered as he glanced down at the little box inside his lap. "I have never heard of such places."

The strange little creature answered with a small bubbling noise and belched a little cloud of smoke.

"Neither did I heard of swamp dragons. Well…It looks like I have something else to do instead of just moping." Hagrid smiled and placed a couple of coins on the counter before taking the box with him stepping out the door.

He found the alleyway just the same as it was when he stepped in. It wouldn’t be polite from a magic bar to not make sure that people somehow always get home after a night of heavy drinking. Glancing back, he wasn’t even surprised to see that the door had disappeared behind him.

"Well, I don’t really know what happened but one thing I do know." Hagrid looked down at the creature which was trying to scratch out the side of the box. "We are going to get along like a house on fire. " Smiled Hagrid and begin to walk home.

What he didn’t know that it was in fact a hut on fire, multiple times. And more than a few scratches and bites. But despite that, he wouldn’t have traded Thaddeus for all the treasures of the world.


End file.
